Professor Chelvanayakam Kanaganayakam (; May 7, 1952 – November 22, 2014) was a Tamil Canadian translator, author and academic.

Early life and family

Kanaganayakam was born on May 7, 1952, in

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. He was the son of V. Chelvanayakam, head of the Department of Tamil at the University of Ceylon, Peradeniya, and Kamalambikai. He was educated at Trinity College, Kandy. After school Kanaganayakam joined the University of Sri Lanka Peradeniya campus but following Osmund Jayaratne's "re-organisation" of universities, he and other language and literature students were moved to the university's campus in

Kelaniya Kelaniya ( ) is a suburb of Colombo in the Western Province, Sri Lanka, Western Province, Sri Lanka. Located from Colombo Fort, it is known for the Buddhist temple built on the banks of the Kelani River, which divides the suburb from Colombo Di ...

. He graduated in 1976 with a B.A. degree in English language and literature. Kanaganayakam was married to Thirumagal. They had a daughter (Shankary) and a son (Jegan).

Career

Kanaganayakam was a lecturer in the Department of English at the University of Jaffna before joining the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

on a

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

scholarship, receiving a Ph.D. degree in 1985 after producing a

thesis A thesis (: theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: D ...

, supervised by W. H. New, on the writings of

Zulfikar Ghose Zulfikar Ghose (March 13, 1935 – June 30, 2022) was a Pakistani Americans, Pakistani-American novelist, poet and essayist. His works are primarily magic realism, magical realism, blending fantasy and harsh realism. Biography Born in Sialkot, P ...

. Kanaganayakam joined the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

's Department of English in 1989 to research and teach Commonwealth literature. Appointed a professor in 2002, he went on to become director of the Centre for South Asian Studies at the

Munk School of Global Affairs The Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto is an interdisciplinary academic centre located at the St. George campus in Downtown Toronto. It offers various research and educational programs in global affairs ...

and co-ordinator of the independent studies program at

Trinity College, Toronto Trinity College (occasionally referred to as the University of Trinity College) is a University of Toronto#Colleges, federated college of the University of Toronto located at the University of Toronto#St. George campus, St. George campus in Down ...

. Kanaganayakam was a founding member of the Tamil Literary Garden and the Toronto Tamil Studies Conference. On the morning of November 22, 2014, Kanaganayakam was inducted to the

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; , SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities, and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bilingual council of distinguishe ...

as a fellow in

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

. That evening, as he went to a celebratory dinner in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, he suffered a heart attack and died.

Works

Kanaganayakam wrote, translated and edited several books: * ''Structures of Negation: The Writings of Zulfikar Ghose'' (1993,

University of Toronto Press The University of Toronto Press is a Canadian university press. Although it was founded in 1901, the press did not actually publish any books until 1911. The press originally printed only examination books and the university calendar. Its first s ...

) * ''Configuartions of Exile: South Asian Writers and Their World'' (1995,

TSAR Publications TSAR Publications is a Toronto-based nonprofit book publisher focusing on multicultural literature, particularly Canadian authors and subject matter. TSAR Publications began as the literary journal ''The Toronto Review of Contemporary Writing Abro ...

) * ''Dark Antonyms and Paradise: The Poetry of Rienzi Crusz'' (1997, TSAR Publications) * ''Lutesong and Lament: Tamil Writing from Sri Lanka'' (2001, TSAR Publications, editor) * ''Counterrealism and Indo-Anglian Fiction'' (2002, Wilfrid Laurier University Press) * ''Moveable Margins: The Shifting Spaces of Canadian Literature'' (2005, TSAR Publications, editor) * ''History and Imagination: Tamil Culture in the Global Context'' (2007, co-editors R. Cheran & Darshan Ambalavanar) * ''New Demarcations: Essays in Tamil Studies'' (2009, Brown Bear Press, co-editors R. Cheran & Darshan Ambalavanar) * ''Wilting Laughter: Three Tamil Poets'' (2009, translator) * ''Nedunalvaadai'' (2010) * ''You Cannot Turn Away'' (2010, translator) * ''Ritual'' (2011, translator) * ''World Without Walls: Being Human, Being Tamil'' (2011, co-editor) * '' In Our Translated World: Contemporary Global Tamil Poetry'' (2013, TSAR Publications, editor) * ''A History of South Asian Writing in English'' (2014,

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

) * ''Uprooting the Pumpkin: Selections from Sri Lankan Tamil Literature, 1950-2012'' (2016,

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, editor)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kanaganayakam, Chelva 1952 births 2014 deaths Academic staff of the University of Jaffna Academic staff of the University of Sri Lanka (Jaffna) Alumni of Trinity College, Kandy Alumni of the University of Sri Lanka (Peradeniya) Canadian people of Sri Lankan Tamil descent Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Sri Lankan Tamil people Sri Lankan academics Sri Lankan Tamil writers University of British Columbia alumni Academic staff of the University of Toronto